76 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



in the dense tropical jungle surrounding" the town and extending east- 

 ward to the base of the mountains. 



On December 3 we left the railroad at Provincia, the eastern end 

 of the portion which is open for traffic, and from then on, until we 

 emerged from the mountains on the far eastern side near Cucuta, 

 our only means of transportation was by mule. 



Once in the mountains, headquarters were established at the delight- 

 ful city of Bucaramanga, and this served as our main base for two 

 and a half months. Bucaramanga is one of several thriving Colom- 

 bian cities linked to the outside world only by mule trails and air- 

 plane. Its streets, however, are filled with autos and autobuses and 

 its shops are well stocked with goods from this country and Europe. 

 The capital of a department in which cofTee is abundantly grown and 

 which leads in the production of oil, it is at present experiencing a 

 high degree of prosperity. The Governor and other officials of the 

 Department of Santander, as well as private citizens, extended every 

 courtesy to us, and much of our success in collecting about 17,000 

 specimens in this area was due to this highly appreciated cooperation. 



Situated on a plateau which drops abruptly to deep valleys on three 

 sides, the immediate vicinity of Bucaramanga was not especially inter- 

 esting botanically ; but areas to the south, east, and north, distant two 

 to four days by nnile travel, were exceedingly rich. The Mesa de los 

 Santos, a broad plateau about 1,500 meters above sea level, was first 

 visited. Although there was no range of altitude here, the presence 

 of dense woods, sandy fields, marshes, and rocky clififs, all within a 

 few miles of our inn, resulted in a wide diversity of plant life. 



Our second trip from Bucaramanga took us eastward to the isolated 

 region about Las Vegas. From our base established here at 2,600 

 meters, in the midst of a rich vegetation, a two days' trip was made 

 to the Paramo de las Vegas, the highest point of which lies at 3,800 

 meters elevation. Among the more interesting plants collected along 

 this trail were the Colombian May-flower, with showy magenta 

 flowers, a scarlet-flowered loranthus, related to our mistletoe, a species 

 of adder's-tongue fern, several rare passion flowers, the large-fruited 

 blackberry, and a species of Espclctia. This last group of curious 

 woolly plants, locally known as frailejones, is characteristic of the 

 higher mountain plateaus. 



The month of January and the first part of February were spent 

 about Surata, Charta, and California, to the north of Bucaramanga, 

 an area thought to be well worth visiting because of the rich collections 

 made there by Linden and by Funck and Schlim. From California, 



